Waiting time distributions of solar and stellar flares: Poisson process or with memory?. (28th June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, C; Zhong, S J; Xu, Z G; He, H; Yan, Y; Chen, P F; Fang, C
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 479:Number 1(2018:Sep.)
• Page Start: L139
• Page End: L142
• Publication Date: 2018-06-28
• Subjects: methods: statistical -- Sun: activity -- stars: flare; Astronomy -- Research -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/sly117
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-3933

Abstract

Abstract: We present the waiting time statistics of solar flares observed during the solar cycle 23 and of stellar flares produced by a solar-type star (KIC 11551430). The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test is applied to examine the reliability of Poisson hypothesis for the flare production. Different degrees of departure from a Poisson process have been found, depending on the flare intensities and levels of star activities. We then fit the waiting time distributions with both the non-stationary Poisson function and the Weibull function. It is evident that a certain amount of memory is present during the period of high solar activities, consistent with the result of Telloni et al. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that the occurrence of relatively 'weak' flares are persistently correlated, while the production of 'super flares' is closer to a stochastic process statistically.